1. Field
The present disclosure relates to communications in computer networks. More particularly, this invention is directed toward a look-aside processor unit with internal and external access for multi-core processors.
2. Description of Related Technology
A network processor is specialized processor, often implemented in a form of an integrated circuit, with a feature set specifically designed for processing packet data received or transferred over a network. Such a processing often involves information lookup replacing expensive runtime computation with a simpler indexing operation in an information lookup table. By means of an example, routing related processing, i.e., packet forwarding, requires lookup of routing information, comprising tuples of different values that make up a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) connection, e.g., a 5-tuple comprises a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port number, a destination port number, and a protocol in use.
As lookup is typically performed by an external ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM), perhaps connected to the network processor via Interlaken Lookaside (ILA). However a memory based lookup suffers from a latency of lookup requests. Furthermore, lookup resources, which are tracking lookups that have been submitted, are pre-allocated or dedicated to a processor core. Thus a network processor that comprises multiple cores, the dedication of resources hinders efficiency because of potentially unequal use of the dedicated resources by different processor cores.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a look-aside processor unit, providing a solution to the above identified problems, as well as additional advantages.